


The Dandelion Cafe

by Spatzi_Schatz



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Deaf Keith (Voltron), Gay Disaster Shiro (Voltron), M/M, Oblivious Shiro (Voltron), Pining Shiro (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-09
Updated: 2019-02-09
Packaged: 2019-10-24 21:21:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17711789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spatzi_Schatz/pseuds/Spatzi_Schatz
Summary: Most of Shiro’s attention is still on his friend, who hasn’t turned toward Shiro at all. His hands are a flurry of movement. Signing, his lagging brain helpfully supplies, he’s signing. From the sharpness of the movements he’s making with long, slim fingers, Shiro guesses he’s in mid-rant about something. The Hispanic boy just looks patiently amused, but makes a quick movement when he can get a word in edgewise to draw the other’s attention to Shiro’s presence.When the other finally turns toward him, Shiro loses his tongue all over again. He knows he’s a disaster (Matt reminds him almost daily), but the universe doesn’t have to remind him like this.----ilssaid A Thing on Twitter and then.. this happened. I blame them.





	The Dandelion Cafe

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: Shiro has the beginnings of a panic attack at the beginning of the last scene. He works himself through it before it begins, but if that'll trigger your own attack, jump to where the dialog begins.

The chime of the front door sounds just as he’s lifting heavy boxes of coffee beans off a high shelf.

“Just a second!” Shiro calls. It’s still early enough that he’s the only one in the coffee shop. Well, besides Hunk, but he’s elbow-deep in icing right now. They have about an hour until Rollo joins them and they start getting the morning before-work-and-class rush.

It’s silent for a few moments, long enough that Shiro almost thinks that maybe a strong gust opened the door, before a voice far too chipper for such an early hour calls back, “No worries! Take your time!”

Shiro finishes lifting boxes down and carries the entire thing back to the front. He can open them and put it away after he helps out whoever just came in.

“Sorry about that,” he says as he comes through the swinging door. “What can I-“

He falters a little as he straightens behind the counter. Instead of one customer, like he expected (one voice, one customer), there are two young men standing at the counter. One, Hispanic with light eyes far too sparkly for the hour, the other with skin so pale it almost looks lilac underneath and hair the same color and texture as Shiro’s but longer, tucked back into a ponytail underneath a black beanie.

The Hispanic kid glances at him, but most of Shiro’s attention is still on his friend, who hasn’t turned toward Shiro at all. His hands are a flurry of movement. Signing, his lagging brain helpfully supplies, he’s signing. From the sharpness of the movements he’s making with long, slim fingers, Shiro guesses he’s in mid-rant about something. The Hispanic boy just looks patiently amused, but makes a quick movement when he can get a word in edgewise to draw the other’s attention to Shiro’s presence.

When the other finally turns toward him, Shiro loses his tongue all over again. He knows he’s a disaster (Matt reminds him almost daily), but the universe doesn’t have to remind him like this.

 

This man is gorgeous: tall and lithe with cheekbones that could cut glass, he also has eyes so deeply black they look indigo. And could probably steal Shiro’s soul. Not that he wouldn’t freely give it right this second in exchange for the man’s name.

Gorgeous Guy(tm) lifts a sharp eyebrow as he stares at Shiro, his hands stilling. Stares back, actually. Shit, they came in for coffee, not to be stared at. Shiro looks between the two (Chipper Friend looks like he’s trying to hide his amusement at Shiro’s expense, though barely) and gives an embarrassed smile.

“Sorry, Uh.. could you repeat that?” he says. He makes sure to look at both of them as he speaks.

Chipper Friend grins more. “Sure thing, buddy,” he says. “Can we get two large coffees, one black, one with steamed milk and honey, a dirty chai, and a large caramel-mocha Frappuccino with extra everything, please.”

Shiro nods, rings in the order, and gives them their total. Chipper Friend continues to sign as he also interacts with Shiro, passing him money for the coffees and dumping his change into the tip jar. His signs are much looser than Gorgeous Guy’s, rounded and flowing one into another. Chipper Friend must say something though because Gorgeous Guy huffs through his nose and makes a vulgar gesture that even Shiro knows. Shiro retreats to the espresso machine as Chipper Friend snickers.

He sets the drinks on the counter as he finishes them, first the two coffees, then the chai, and lastly the frap.

“Do you need a carrier?” Shiro asks as Gorgeous Guy picks up both coffees.

“That’d be awesome, thanks,” says Chipper Friend.

Shiro hands the cardboard drink carrier to him, but Gorgeous Guy does not relinquish the two coffees as his friend loads up the other drinks, taking a deep swig of the black coffee. He looks at Shiro, pauses, and gives a single nod—keeping eye contact the entire time—before turning on his heel and following his friend out of the shop.

After the chime on the door settles again and the shop is quiet, Shiro looks back at the boxes still on the floor. “Well.. that happened,” he tells them.

***

“Do you think he’s a student here?” Shiro asks suddenly.

He and Matt are tucked away in a hidden corner of the library behind back issues of old scientific periodicals. They’re supposedly grading for Iverson, but if Shiro has to read one more discussion post where the student clearly didn’t read the assigned material, he might ascend to the ethereal plane right there. Matt gave up on his section nearly 20 minutes ago and is taking a “study break” by scrolling through Twitter and munching on their contraband snacks.

“Who? Your purple-eyed crush?” Matt doesn’t even bother looking up.

“It’s not a crush,” Shiro says. It’s not. You can’t crush on someone you don’t know. But he has _eyes_ and he’s allowed to _look_. It’s actually one of the perks of his job as a barista, and one of their favorite past times behind the bar. Nyma likes to brag that they get the hottest customers. It’s harmless, and the customers don’t know they do this, whisper about how attractive (or not) they are. And it’s not likely he’ll ever see Gorgeous Guy again. (Shiro refuses to acknowledge the pang of disappointment he feels when he thinks this.)

Matt rolls his eyes. “Yeah, okay,” he says. “It’s not like you haven’t expressed interest in anyone since.. forever.”

(They don’t acknowledge that either.)

Instead, Shiro flicks a pencil at Matt. “If you don’t finish your half, I’m not doing it for you. And mid-semester grades are due tomorrow.”

Matt grumbles but drops his feet off the table and returns to grading.

Shiro _does not_ have a crush.

***

The universe hates him. It’s really the only explanation.

He had been in the home stretch of his shift right as they got hit with a massive rush. They have a queue nearly eight drinks deep, there’s still a line nearly to the door, Romelle is late, and he smells like sweat, coffee grounds, and frap base (he’s pretty sure he has frap base in his _ear_ ). These are the moments he questions why he decided to get this job. (Then he remembers what he’d be doing if he weren’t here: not bothering to get out of bed most days, trying very hard not to let his mind wander too far. Keeping busy is the best way to combat it, he’s found.)

Shiro sets the latest drink on the counter and calls it out—“Pomegranate Oolong Latte!”—as he ducks behind the espresso machine again. Three drinks later, the tea latte is still there and he pauses to check the name and call it again.

“Pomegranate Oolong Latte for Keith?”

He looks out at the crowd of waiting patrons to see if anyone is moving forward when his focus is pulled by Gorgeous Guy, standing near the front and looking distinctly like he wants to stab someone. Shiro’s mouth goes dry. He’d looked up some basic ASL lessons on YouTube (you know, just in case.) but he doesn’t know how to ask “what are you waiting on?” or “what did you order?” Instead, after a moment’s hesitation—God, he’s going to embarrass himself but here it goes—he waves to get Gorgeous Guy’s attention and signs.

«what get?»

Gorgeous Guy stares at him, and for a heart-wrenching second Shiro thinks he’s signed something truly awful, before Gorgeous Guy’s fingers fly through several signs that Shiro can’t even hope to recognize. He must look as shell shocked as he feels because Gorgeous Guy huffs (like he did at his friend, Shiro’s brain helpfully supplies) and he starts finger spelling slowly—P-O-M—before giving up with a shake of his head, pointing at himself and signing a question mark.

Shiro’s lizard brain finally gets with the program and he turns the cup, pulling down the sleeve to show the name scrawled on the side of the cup. He looks back at Gorgeous Guy, lifting his eyebrows in he hopes is an inquisitive way. Gorgeous Guy’s lip quirks up at the corner and he nods, reaching for his drink. (Well, at least he doesn’t look like he wants to stab someone anymore.)

Gorgeous Guy pauses though and looks back at Shiro. «Thank you» he signs, and smiles. (And yeah, that’s going right up there with his eyes as one of the most attractive things about Gorgeous Guy. It does not escape Shiro’s notice that his smile is just as sharp as the rest of him.)

Drink retrieved, he turns and heads back through the crowd to the door.

Shiro stands there, stunned, until Nyma none-too-gently elbows him to get out of her way. It takes his brain at least two more drinks before it realizes. Keith. Gorgeous Guy’s name is Keith.

***

Keith becomes a regular after that. Or more accurately, he turns from a semi-regular into an almost daily regular. When the universe is smiling on Shiro, he sees Keith twice in a day, in the morning, sleepy before his 8 a.m. lecture and barely functional, and in the afternoon, after his classes but before he rushes to work teaching self-defense classes, strung out from staring at a computer screen too long and still barely functional.

The list of things Shiro has learned about Keith includes: (1) Chipper Friend’s name is Lance and they’ve been friends since childhood. Lance is Keith’s translator in his lectures as a work-study for his Communications major. (1.b) They’re actually also childhood friends with Hunk. (1.c) Keith is studying Mechanical Engineering, and is in some of the same classes as Pidge, Matt’s younger sister. (When he tells Matt this, his response is “Oh, _that_ Keith?” with a shit-eating grin, as if Garrison City isn’t the tiny university town it is) He wants to apply for Garrison U’s Astrophysics Masters program.

(2) Keith was born Deaf and it’s hereditary. His dad is also Deaf. (2.b) He’s also half-Galran, on his mother’s side, hence the purple-tinted skin, pretty (very very pretty) eyes, and the facial mark on his jaw Shiro took as a scar at first. Also the slightly more pointy than normal incisors. (2.c) He works at his Uncles’ gym, doing whatever needs to be done at any given moment, but also assisting and teaching classes. He runs an after-school self-defence program for other Deaf and minority kids. Physical and combat training helped Keith with his anger and aggression as a teen and he hopes to help others. (2.d? 3?) He also does freelance coding and data entry and analysis for extra cash in his spare time (Lance snorts and puts “spare time” in air quotes behind Keith’s head.) On days Shiro is especially lucky, Keith will sit in the cafe to do school work and coding projects for an entire afternoon. Shiro gets to come by and top off his coffee and deliver new pastry experiments from Hunk.

 

Shiro wouldn’t call them friends necessarily; it’s not like they see each other outside of the cafe. But they’re more than friendly acquaintances, he would like to think. And Shiro’s totally fine with that. Meeting new people within his circles is relatively rare (Re: small university town), and Shiro is enjoying the excitement of getting to know a new person. If that’s all that comes out of his relationship with Keith--and Keith hasn’t given any indication that he’s after anything more than friendship--Shiro will gladly take it. The day he explains this to Matt, Matt stares at him before leaning back in his chair and staring at the ceiling for a full fifteen seconds.

 

“Okay,” Matt finally says. “The way I see it, you have two options. You either don’t ask him out, pine forever, and make us all suffer the indignity of watching you pine—”

 

“Have you been hanging out in the English department with Shay again?” Shiro asks. His friend-groups are mixing and he’s not sure how he feels about it.  

 

“Or,” Matt continues, louder to drown out Shiro. “You ask him out, you start dating, get married, and have the cutest babies this side of the Milky Way.”

 

“You’re logical progression has a few flaws, I think.”

 

“Dude, buddy, friend. Seriously. You miss 100% of the passes you don’t make, or whatever the stupid phrase is. Just ask him. Literally, what’s the worst that could happen?”

 

What’s the worst that could happen? The first thing that comes to his mind is Keith laughing in his face. Logically, he knows that would probably not happen. That’s not the kind of person Keith is, but Shiro can’t help the visceral reaction he has to the mere _idea_ of it. What’s the worst that could happen? What will (more likely) happen is that Shiro will fumble through asking, probably get it horribly wrong, have to ask again in different signs or finger spell the whole thing, and when he finally gets his point across, Keith will let him down gently (because despite looking as prickly as a cactus, he is a _good person)_ , and it will make everything awkward and embarrassing until Shiro either (a) has to hide in his tiny, smelly TA office that he shares with Matt and two others for the foreseeable future; or (b) forces Keith to have to start avoiding him, the coffee shop, and all of their mutual friends. Regardless, Shiro will lose the friendship or acquaintance-ship or _whatever_ it is that he’s building with Keith, and he’ll waste away from embarrassment. And, let’s not sugar coat it, also a broken heart, because Shiro is self-aware enough to at least admit now that he has a crush. But it’s a manageable crush, damnit. He’s managing it. Things are _fine_ the way they are.

 

His thoughts must be transparent to Matt because he drags Shiro from his spiraling thoughts with the sound of his forehead hitting the textbook. “Okay,” he says to the pages. “Pining forever it is then.”

 

***

 

Because the universe hates him, (again. Seriously, what did he ever do to her?) Shiro sees Keith that afternoon, the thoughts from his conversation with Matt still chasing themselves around his head.

 

Is he just imagining it, or does Keith look nervous? He doesn’t get in line right away. Instead, Keith shifts awkwardly on his feet for a few moments just inside the door, like he might turn right around and flee the cafe, and doesn’t that just stab Shiro straight in the heart? Was Shiro that obvious? (If Matt was to be believed--and really, he shouldn’t be, _but--_ the entire Anthro department knew about Shiro’s crush. Shiro’s pretty sure the _entire_ department doesn’t know. Maybe the rest of their cohort knows, and possibly Iverson, but Shiro’s also pretty sure Iverson doesn’t give a shit. But Shiro’s positive that at least Slav doesn’t know. He’d hear about it _ad nauseum_ if Slav knew. Small mercies.) Did Keith know about his maybe-not-entirely-managed crush and would rather flee, avoid his friend’s cafe, than face Shiro and tell him to back the hell off? Shiro can’t stomach the thought of Keith being driven away from the cafe. Yeah, technically it’s Shiro’s job, but it’s not like he needs it for the money that bad. He’s here for the people, and to keep his hands busy, and to get out of the house. He can get another job. He can do that for Keith. Should he start looking for another job?

 

He rings the rest of the people in line on auto-pilot as his mind circles. When there are no more customers to ring, Shiro looks down and opens and closes both his flesh and metal hands, focusing on the mechanical action of it. Open, close, breathe in. Open, close, breathe out. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees a pair of legs, and then Keith bending down to catch his gaze. He looks worried, but he still smiles--a tentative, fragile thing--and gives a tiny wave. Shiro can’t help but smile back, and something loosens in his chest as Keith’s smile brightens.

 

«Okay?»

 

Shiro smiled a bit more for Keith and nods.

 

«Good. You have a second?» Keith looks nervous again.

 

“Uh…” Shiro looks at the barista station and then over his shoulder toward Hunk. If he was hoping for a bail out, he doesn’t get it because Hunk just grins and waves them off.

“Go ahead, take a ten. Or a twenty. Honestly, take as long as you want. I can run the register for a bit.” Hunk grins again and waves “hello” to Keith before hip-checking Shiro from behind the counter.

 

“Thanks Hunk..”

 

“No problem, dude. Seriously, take your time.”

 

If Shiro could just melt on the spot, he would. Wouldn’t that just solve everyone’s problems? Instead, he follows Keith to the table along the far wall Shiro knows is Keith’s favorite. They don’t sit, but Keith rounds on Shiro suddenly, setting his shoulders. His (pretty) eyes are fierce and determined as he looks at Shiro (and Shiro should probably train himself out of thinking about Keith’s eyes if he’s about to be told to back off.) He takes a breath before he starts signing. And Shiro knows his ASL is getting better. He’s been doing lessons and practicing with Hunk, but either Keith is signing too fast or Shiro’s vocabulary is still that of an infant because he can’t understand anything Keith is signing. The only signs he recognizes are “student,” “gym,” and “two days.” He must look lost, because Keith stops and huffs (and really, it should be illegal to be so cute after probably threatening to sick self-defense students on someone if they don’t back off). Keith visibly collects himself before beginning again.

 

«There’s an event at the gym in two days. Will you come?»

 

The relief Shiro feels is so palpable that he laughs. When Keith’s eyebrows draw in suddenly, Shiro reaches to put his hands on Keith’s and immediately lets go again when Keith lurches back.

 

“No, oh fuck, sorry!” Shiro says, but he starts nodding enthusiastically before signing. «I’d love to! Time?»

 

Keith smiles again, looking relieved. Shiro is so fucking relieved. He hasn’t fucked this up yet.

 

«2 p.m. After we can get food?» Keith is looking at him expectantly, hopefully? But Shiro is lost again.

 

«You and your students will get food?» Shiro asks.

 

Keith stares at him for a moment and shakes his head. «Not my students. Me and you. I want to get dinner with you after. As in a date.»

 

Shiro watches Keith’s hands come together and apart and back as he signs “date,” a blush rising on his face. Shiro laughs again. (It seems that’s just his natural response to the universe fucking with him, but he’s not about to look a gift horse in the mouth.) This time, he doesn’t reach for Keith’s hands, but just nods. He’s probably grinning like a fool (he knows he is. He can feel it in his face) but he can’t find a single fuck to give. He’s struck just then with the urge to kiss the other man, and since the universe seems to be in a giving mood..

 

«Can I kiss you?» (Yes, he looked up the sign for “kiss.” Sue him.)

 

Keith stares at him again, the flush in his cheeks darkening, but he cocks his head to the side, considering, before he nods. Shiro grins then, and he reaches out, waiting for Keith to take his offered hand before pulling him into the circle of his arm. He keeps the kiss light, soft, but it cracks something open in Shiro’s chest to feel Keith’s mouth against his. They pull apart when Keith gets clipped by a milk cap thrown from the barista bar. If the way Keith’s nose wrinkles when he glares at the meddling cafe workers is one of the cutest things Shiro has ever seen, well, he tucks that observation in close to his heart.

 

When Shiro glances back at them, that’s when the whistles start. Hunk, too, is standing there, signing applause. Keith makes a garbled, strangled noise and buries his face into Shiro’s shoulder. And Shiro takes back every mean thing he ever said about the universe.  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
